The festive sale boosting e-commerce ad spends – Part 3

E-commerce companies actively prepare for the festive sales as it can be a make or break deal for
the yearly numbers of these companies. Both Amazon and Flipkart are collectively spending around
Rs. 100 crore solely on television ads curated for the Great Indian Festival and Big Billion Days
promotion respectively.

Flipkart has come back with the kids and a new tagline “Ab mehengai giregi" for their television
Ads. Apart from the mainline advertising including television, print and outdoor, Flipkart has also
partnered with US-based personalized video platform AdGreetz. With AdGreetz, Flipkart is planning
to create 100,000 personalized videos based on browsing the history of 45 million customers on
Flipkart, Facebook, and Instagram.

As told to livemint.com by Mr. Shoumyan Biswas, CMO, Flipkart; “We have learned that one-size-
fits-all creatives do not work and that is why we have created hyper-targeted 10 to 15-second ads
which are being promoted on consumer's Facebook, Instagram and YouTube feed. This is an
excellent way for both retention and acquisition.”

Flipkart has also come up with many digital activities with its digital marketing agency, webchutney.
They have also done Facebook Live with influencers to unfold various offers on various products and
partnered with web entertainment channels The Viral Fever (TVF) and Put Chutney for creating
branded video content to promote Big Billion Days.

Following their streak of unusual marketing, Flipkart has also released a video showcasing the efforts
and inputs of their team to make the Big Billion Days a success. The video also portrays the impact of
big billion days in changing the face of e-commerce in India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lidnrCLTmpc

Amazon, on the other hand, goes by the tagline, "Karo milke taiyari" and is focusing on value-driving
and affordability features. It had partnered with Google and Facebook to send sale alerts and
notifications.

Amazon intends to go regional with its advertisements and hence recreated its television ads in
Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada with different caste and setting.

As told to livemint.com by Mr. Ravi Arun Desai, Director, Mass and Brand Marketing, Amazon India;
“Through our campaign, we want to urge people to take time off and invest it in creating memories
with their loved ones. Brand Amazon always attempts to tell a story in a manner that is simple and
relatable based on real Indian insights. Amazon India is a preferred destination for most people for
their shopping and #KaroMilkeTayyari aims to remind people of the importance of the human
connect, while we take care of your shopping needs.”

Amazon is dominating the festive sale advertising and has outdone Flipkart when it comes to print
media. IT had a loud shout out about its festive sale in every major newspaper to announce its
commencement.

Talking about spends on television ads, Amazon again topped with a 50% share in total television ad
spends by e-commerce biggies, followed by 35% share of Flipkart and rest 15% shared by Snapdeal,
Shopclues, and others.When it comes to Radio, both competitors were almost equally and
adequately funded with both of them having enough spots to garner retention.

Google trends show that the keyword Amazon has attracted more searches as compared to Flipkart
and that “Amazon Great Indian Festival” has attracted much more traction as compared to “The
Flipkart Big Billion Days.”

Snapdeal, unlike last year, spent much less on advertising this year. Snapdeal’s “Unbox Zindagi Sale”
was a failure as against the huge investment of INR 200 Crores. This year’s advertising spends for
Snapdeal have come down to Rs. 40 -60 crores, that is nowhere close to last year’s hefty budget.

Another major e-commerce player, Shopclues has created its television commercial around a
character, Ismail who always has a smile on his face. The idea behind the commercial is to personify
people’s smiles, the ones which they would have when shopping at Shopclues. The plan is to
penetrate more into tier II and tier III markets to showcase how Shopclues meets all fashion needs of
both men and women.

More than brand visibility, the advertisements run by e-commerce companies during the sale period
showcase products, offers and the steal deals running for the period. The e-commerce companies
bombard the consumers with advertisements to increase brand recall by constantly hitting them
through various channels, be it print, television, radio or digital Ads!

This year we have witnessed a lot of intelligent advertising in terms of content and sentiments
captured by the e-commerce giants. Let’s see what the next year has in store for e-commerce
companies and customers.